Vinculo Coffee, a Memphis-based coffee distributor, is looking for a centralized home for its operations in Memphis, with plans to open its own roaster with a cafe and tasting room.
After Andrew Banker and his wife, Savannah, went on a mission trip to Mexico with Living Church Memphis, they fell in love with making coffee. Now, the Bankers, along with business partners Joe Williams and Sam Rogers, have launched this coffee distribution company, with bags able to be shipped anywhere in the U.S. While the company’s operations are based out of Memphis, its roasting occurs in New Albany. The company hopes to move everything to the Memphis area when the right location is available.
“I would love to find a spot in Memphis to set up our own roaster with a tasting room,” Banker tells the Daily Memphian. “Eventually, it would be a café, ideally, and customers can come in and see the process, see the beans and the roaster from Xalapa (Mexico).”
Vinculo coffee is made with the help of farmers in Chiapas, Mexico (Vinculo’s signature blend); Veracruz, Mexico; and Ethiopia, and is currently available in 2.5-ounce, 12-ounce, and 5-pound bags. In the next few months, the company expects to add coffee from Peruvian and Nicaraguan beans to its menu. Vinculo also offers a monthly subscription option called “Roaster’s Choice.” Once operations are centralized within Memphis, the company hopes to include several partnerships with other Memphis brands, including a local brewery; retail sales in coffee shops, churches, and grocery stores; and a tasting room connected to the roaster.
“Through our trips that we’ve made from the time of coffee being a side hustle back then, these relationships just organically happened,” Banker said. “There are no middlemen here — the money is handed directly to the farmers who grow and pick this green coffee bean. We roast locally in order to check quality, and a portion of all sales goes back to the community leaders to lead in the way they believe is best for their area.”
